Smoke and Shadow
by Sithwitch 13
Summary: Ultimate Xmen AU, WIP. Two mutants are rescued from a research lab, and the Xmen try to help them rebuild their lives. On hiatus until further notice.
1. The Lab

Author's Note:  This takes place a bit less than a year after 12, and since I don't know what happens a year later, this fic is AU.  Please don't bite me.

"Smoke and Shadow"

Ch. 1

            "You want to what?!"

            Rogue sighed.  "Look, this ain't exactly easy for me to admit.  Me 'n Juggernaut need yer help."

            Scott Summers leaned back in his chair.  Professor X and Rogue had arranged this meeting on neutral grounds, in a quiet restaurant in New York City.  He felt like giving an obnoxious "So * now* you want our help," but he knew that by doing so he would probably wreck the meeting and, if there was truth in what Rogue said, be costing mutants their lives.  "Why do you need us?"

            Rogue was plainly trying to keep her temper under control and avoid making a scene.  "It's a small research lab in Arizona, about an hour southwest from the ol' Weapon X place.  From what we've heard, there's between five and ten mutants being used to test some kinda drug that neutralizes our powers.  Me 'n Cain would normally do this kinda thing on our own, but security's a bit more powerful than we're used to.  And we don't know what kinda shape these mutants'll be in if we do get them out.  Y'all have medical facilities and while me 'n Cain don't exactly hold to yer philosophies, you X-men ain't that bad to have around in a fight.  Happy now?"

            Scott slowly nodded.  "I'll have to discuss it with the rest of the team, but I'm pretty sure we'll help you.  Professor Xavier will contact you with our answer."

            Rogue got up.  "All right."  She turned and exited the restaurant, leaving Scott with the bill.

*********************************************************************

            Professor Charles Xavier stroked his ginger tabby cat as he mulled the situation over.  "Jean, you didn't sense any deception?"

            Jean Gray nodded from her seat on the Professor's left.  She had been outside, inconspicuously providing backup for Scott.  "She seemed serious.  And angry at having to ask for help."

            The Professor looked up at the rest of the team.  "If you do not want to assist in this operation, I will understand."  Given Bobby's none-too-pleasant first encounter with Rogue, Professor Xavier wasn't sure that Bobby would be very comfortable working with her.

            No one spoke up.  He could feel their more or less grudging acceptence of the plan.  And, quite naturally, he felt Logan's anger at other mutants being used as lab rats.

            Professor Xavier nodded.  "In that case, I'll get back to Rogue with our answer."

**********************************************************************

            "So that's the facility.  Any last minute questions?" asked Juggernaut.

            The X-men silently checked the last of their equipment in a tacit "no."

            Juggernaut nodded.  "Good.  Storm, Cyclops, Beast, you're with me.  Wolverine, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Colossus, you're with Rogue.  Let's go."

            The facility appeared to be a one-story building surrounded by electric barbed wire.  Rogue and Juggernaut had discovered, though, that the place ran three more stories underground, with the mutant test subjects at the lowest level.

            The two teams' combined efforts made short work of the security.  The lab technicians and doctors were "neutralized" (locked into a room, where Jean knocked them safely unconscious) while Logan made a call to his old acquaintance Nick Fury to notify him of the illegal goings-on.

            Jean and Rogue nearly crashed into Scott as they quickly exited a lab.  "You don't want to go in there," Jean quietly told Scott as they walked.  "They were in the process of dissecting some poor guy."  Rouge and Jean both looked sick.

            They joined Wolverine, Colossus, and Beast, who were breaking open the cells of the captive mutants.  There were six, one of which was empty.  Beast was in the process of opening a cell containing a very short, very young looking girl.  Her hair was brown, slightly longer than Jean's, but with long bangs.

            "You found Jason, didn't you?" were the first words out of her mouth.  Her face suggested that she knew the answer.

            Jean and Rogue shared an uneasy look.  "Green hair?"

            The girl's face fell.  "That's him.  He's dead, isn't he?"

            Rogue nodded.

            The girl's composure nearly collapsed.  She went to the empty cell, looking wistfully inside.  "One more day, Jace.  You almost made it."

            "Hey!  I need some help here!"

            Everyone looked over at Peter's shout.  He had wrenched open one cell at the corner of the room, and was looking horrified.  Logan was the first to make his way over.  He began to growl.  "Jean?  You got the most medical experience outta all of us."

            Inside the cell was a short, gaunt young woman.  Her long black hair was matted, and her skin was mottled by bruises, lacerations, and a couple of old scars.  She was unconscious and looked like she had been hit by some sort of moving vehicle.  The girl looked inside.  "So that's what she looks like."

            "You've never seen her?" asked Hank.

            "She's been here longer than me.  They made her crazy.  Jace and her got brought in at about the same time, and he told me about her."  The girl got a pained look.

            "Can we move her?" asked Rogue.

            Jean quickly assessed the situation.  "Both her legs are broken.  So is her left arm and a couple of ribs.  She's also in shock.  We have to be really careful."

            The girl and three other mutants, two female and a male, were hurried out of the facility and into the Blackbird.  Jean had levitated the unconscious woman on a makeshift stretcher, and carefully floated it onto the jet.  Scott took off and headed back to the X-mansion in New York.

            Ororo tried to engage the brown-haired girl in conversation.  "What's your name?"

            "Jocelyn Vallarta."  The girl gave a halfhearted smile.  "Jace used to call me 

'Smoke.'"

            "Were you good friends with him?"

            Jocelyn nodded, sniffing.  "He was the only one who was nice to me."  She jerked her head at the three other rescued mutants.  "They didn't really seem to care about anything anymore.  Jace was in there longer than them and he was always nice."  She looked away.  "I hope it wasn't painful.  But knowing those excuses for scientists, it probably was."

            "What's her name?" asked Ororo, nodding to where Jean and Hank were trying to tend to the unconscious mutant.

            "Bianca Cruz.  Jace called her 'Shadow.'  Don't know why."

            "Why was she so…"

            "Beat up?"  Ororo nodded.  "I know that they were testing how well that shit that they gave us worked.  They had her on this one that was kinda like a tranquilizer.  They were testing her reactions to pain.  But you wanna know what the scary thing is?"  Jocelyn looked towards where Bianca was lying.  "I think she did most of that stuff to herself."


	2. Aftermath

Ch. 2

            The next few days were somewhat hectic in Xavier's mansion.

            One of the mutants who had been rescued, a suspected telekinetic, killed himself before Xavier or Jean could even sense his intent.  Another had attempted to "eat a bullet," as Logan crudely but effectively put it.  Hank, who had been nearby, attempted to stop her.  Instead of being instantly fatal, the gunshot had put her in a coma that she was succumbed to permanently three days later.  And four days later, a girl named Karen, who had seemed to be recovering quite nicely, ran away.  Bianca, the battered mutant, was catatonic and proving to be a challenge to both Jean and Xavier's considerable mental abilities. 

Jocelyn was by far the most well adjusted of the group.  She was quickly bouncing back from her month in captivity, revealing an outgoing personality that made her well liked among the others.  The power-negating drug had nearly worn itself out of her system.  She was currently in the Professor's study, where Xavier was attempting to figure out what exactly her powers were.

Josie, as she preferred to be called, fidgeted uncomfortably.  "It's been a while."

"Just do what you always did."

With an uncharacteristic look of seriousness and concentration, Josie extended a hand and waited.  Slowly, then faster, an image began to form.  Xavier noticed the wisplike traces of light flowing into the image.  Within seconds, a white rabbit, looking for all intents and purposes like a live white rabbit, was sitting on the desk.  "It's just light, as far as I can tell.  See?"  She made a releasing gesture and the image dissipated like smoke.  "It looks real but it doesn't make any noise."

Xavier steepled his fingers as he thought.  "I wonder… Is there anything else?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah.  Check this out."  Concentrating even harder, she made a gesture at empty space.  Nothing seemed to happen.  "Quick, throw something over here, before I lose it."  Xavier mentally launched a rolled up paper in the trash can at the place she pointed to.  It flew through the air, then bounced off of apparently nothing.  "I once accidentally broke someone's nose like that," she said.  "Long story.  Oh, and this.  It's pretty useless right now, but it's something."

Pointing a finger at a bottle of water on Xavier's desk, she concentrated so hard that veins stood out on her forehead.  The water rippled.  Panting from exertion, she looked at Xavier.  "That's it."

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have an idea of exactly what it is you do.  Before you ran away, did you take Physics in school?"

"I was kicked out, I didn't run away," she said, but she shook her head no.

"You'll take it here, then.  The way I suspect you make those images is through manipulation of photons.  Those are massless particles that form light.  For that invisible wall trick, I think you stopped the molecules and momentarily made a solid.  And for the water, I think you made a chain reaction with the molecules and caused them to ripple.  The differences in distance and mass of the particles may be why you have to concentrate harder."

"Interesting," she said, with her tone of voice hinting that she wasn't really interested at all in the explanation.

"With practice, I believe that you could fine-tone your control of photons, gasses, and liquids, and possibly even learn to manipulate solids.  Possibly even cause reactions and produce other chemicals."

"That would be cool."  Her voice was now more interested.

"Jocelyn, while you're here, how are you dealing with everything?"

Josie, who had been about to stand up, sat back down and thought.  "It's a lot to deal with.  I'm used to the idea that my parents decided that it was better to kick me out than to risk sentinals or anti-mutant gangs attacking them or my brothers.  I've dealt with the whole mutant thing for a few years, and I know that most people hate me just for that.  And everyone here's been real nice to me, nicer than my real family.

"But it's hard for me to deal with being used in lab testing.  It wasn't very long, but it was still bad.  I understand why Carlos and Vicky killed themselves, and why Karen couldn't be around reminders of that.  I find it hard to believe that those—people—could meet someone as nice as Jace and kill him.  And I find it hard to believe that anyone could drive someone so crazy that she forgot that she was even a person."

She sniffed.  "But then again, the Nazis did worse stuff in the Holocaust.  I got that far in World History.  And all those other tyrants… I guess it could have been worse."

Suddenly, Josie brightened up.  "I'm gonna go see what Bobby's up to."  She fairly skipped out of the room.  Xavier mentally groaned.  The two had recently discovered a mutual interest in causing havoc wherever possible.  *_ Kids *_, he thought.


	3. Rehab

Ch. 3

            Jean and Scott looked down at the bed.  Bianca, the catatonic mutant, was staring at nothing in particular.  Her reflective silver eyes were slightly unfocused.  Her bruises had healed from varying shades of purplish-red to a sallow yellow-green color.  That, at least, was something.

            "This is the third time today that you've tried this, Jean."

            "I know it seems useless, but I can help.  I _know_ I can.  It's just harder than I thought it would be.  I thought it would be kinda like working with the mentally incapacitated… I thought this would be easier."

            "So leave it to the Professor.  You've been running yourself ragged with these new kids."

            "Oh, and you haven't been?"  She softened a bit.  "I know how you feel about those others.  You tried your best to help them.  They just proved to be beyond help.  This one, however…" Jean trailed off and looked back at the catatonic mutant.  "I think that she can be helped.  I can get her back to reality.  I know I can.  I think she's stronger than she looks.  She didn't kill herself when she had the chance, back in the labs.  She waited it out."

            "I know I'm about to sound like the world's biggest pessimist here, but… Josie said that she thought that the majority of Bianca's injuries were self-inflicted.  What if the only reason that she didn't kill herself was because by the time she was able to, she was too far gone already?  What if she's just waiting to die right now?"

            Jean looked down, thinking.  "I still have to try, Scott."

            Scott nodded slowly.  "I understand.  I just don't want you to feel so bad if it turns out to be a hopeless cause."

            Normally, Jean might have been offended, but she was already trying to concentrate on getting Bianca to acknowledge her presence.  Bianca.

            Jean shivered inwardly as she tried to comprehend Bianca's tortured mind.  The woman was in a tremendous amount of mental pain.  Jean ponderously worked her way through the haze of pain, finding the impenetrable corner that Bianca had locked herself in.  Bianca, you're safe now.  Still no response.  Jean flooded Bianca's mind with warmth, caring, and compassion, as she had been doing since Xavier had assigned her to work with the catatonic mutant.  This time, though… Jean thought that she felt the barrier between Bianca and the world shiver just the tiniest bit.

            Jean's eyes flew open, though she was still in Bianca's mind.  Professor!

**********************************************************************

            Bobby watched the door curiously.  From the cursing and crashes coming from the bathroom, Josie was up to something.  The door flew open.

            "Ta-da!" she yelled.

            "Uh… Your hair."  It was still short and slightly ragged looking, but now the brown was liberally streaked with a lighter honey color and bright red.

            "And?"

            "Are your ears pierced?"

            "They are now."  She brandished a needle, somewhat menacingly.  "Want me to do yours?"

            "No thanks," he said, eyeing her newly quad-pierced (and probably infected) ears.

            She shrugged.  "Your loss.  An eyebrow ring would look great on you."

            Bobby shuddered.

            "Seriously, look."  Josie held her hand out and an image of Bobby's head with a pierced eyebrow swirled into formation in midair.  "See?"

            "So that's what you do?"

            "Among other things."  Josie smiled charmingly.  "Now can we head over to the infirmary?  I think I may need some disinfectant."

            "Why do I have to go?  You're the one who stabbed yourself with a needle and stuck metal objects in the hole.  I didn't have anything to do with it," he complained, following her down the hall.

            "You're going because you're my friend… and I have an idea that will probably involve novicain."

            "Novicain… I like it."

They reached the infirmary, where Scott was leaving.  "Sorry, you can't go in right now."  
            "But Scott… I need something to disinfect my ears!"

He looked curiously at Josie, one eyebrow arching over the lens of his glasses.  "Did you pierce your ears?"

"Maybe."

"You'll have to wait.  Jean and the Prof are finally getting a reaction out of your catatonic friend."

"Really?"  Josie tried to look over his shoulder into the window, a useless effort since Josie was all of five feet tall.  "I hope they're prepared if she wakes up.  She was always raging around her cell… God help 'em," she said, half-jokingly.


	4. Wish I'd died instead of lived

Chapter 4

            * faint memories returning memories of a sterile scent and harsh light on stainless steel*

            Bianca.

*white lab coats and darkness electricity shocking her screaming in pain *

 There's nothing to worry about.

*moniters and needles acid burning in her veins throwing herself against her cell's walls trying to escape *

You're safe now.

*pain so much pain trying to end it chewing on her wrists more electric shocks

giving up waiting to die*

Come back to us, Bianca

*where am I who are you *

We're friends.  We won't hurt you.  We want to help you.

 *no help liars let me be free let me die I don't want to live it hurts oh God it

hurts*

            We can't do that.  We want to help you to live, and to get your life back.

*liars my life is dead my family is dead I should be dead *

We'll help you to build a new life.  It won't replace the one you had, but you'll

be alive.  You've survived that horrible place.

*no liars you're playing games with my head I won't give in just let me die *

(images of the school, the X-men, the camaraderie and personalities shining

through)

            Bianca, we can help you here.

************************************************************************

            Scott, still sitting by the door of the infirmary, jumped involuntarily as he heard a wordless howl of anguish from inside.  He looked through the window and saw a startled looking Xavier and Jean leaping back from Bianca's bed.  The formerly catatonic mutant was sitting up, clutching her head and screaming.  Scott threw the door open and ran inside, ready to defend the X-men's resident telepaths.

            "Scott, get back!" yelled Jean.

            Bianca suddenly shifted—that was the closest term Scott could think of for what she did—into a (very thin and unhealthy looking) black wolf-like-thing.  Just as quickly, she shifted back.  She wavered unsteadily, fell back to her bed, and curled into a fetal position, still keening wordlessly.

            The Professor, Jean, and Scott stared silently at the crying figure on the bed.  "I hate to say it, but I think she needs to be sedated."  Jean silently walked over to a medicine cabinet and measured out a dosage of a sedative for Bianca's IV drip.  "That's enough for today."

**********************************************************************

            "…And so then she changes into a wolf or something."

            "So she's a shapeshifter?"

            "I guess.  Jean, you were in her mind, what do you think?"

            "She's scared of her powers, that much is obvious.  And she's in a lot of mental pain.  I don't know what those people did to her, but she wants to die.  She'll need a lot of help."

            The assembled X-men got quiet.  They were lounging in the mansion's living room area, with the TV on and showing a rerun of "Will and Grace."  Once Jean and Scott had entered the room, though, Must See TV was forgotten.

            "Jace told me that they would lock her up and shock her every so often."

            The others turned and looked at Josie, who looked uncharacteristically sad.  "I don't know what good it did, but she was already crazy by the time I was brought in.  She just got quiet after a while."  Josie sniffed.  "So did Jace.  I wonder if they were gonna do that to the rest of us."

            Bobby, who was sitting next to her, surrupticiously squeezed her hand.  Ororo, who had kind of taken Josie under her wing since her rescue, leaned over and gave her a hug.

            "You're safe here, kid.  You've been through some tough times, but we're here if you need us.  Don't forget that."

            Josie gave a half smile.  Then, much to the relief of the others, a slightly mischevious glint shone in her eyes.  "You know, I never did get that antiseptic for my ears.  When they fall off, I'm blaming Scott for not letting me in."

            Peter, Hank, Scott, Bobby, Ororo, and Josie were soon joking around and watching TV again.  Jean took a quick peek into Josie's mind, just in case, and was relieved to find the disturbing depression far from the surface.  * The last thing we need is another crisis,* she thought.


	5. Randomness

Chapter 5

            Over the next couple of days, Jean and Xavier were rarely seen by the other X-men.  They were with Bianca almost constantly, working to ease the pain in her mind.  For the most part, she was quieter, though not nearly back to normal.

            "So Josie," said Hank, lounging quite comfortably outside with his teammates.  "Why did Jace call you 'Smoke'?"

            Hank, Josie, Bobby, Scott, Peter, and Ororo were outside, alternating between idle chatter and assisting each other with more mundane schoolwork.  Wolverine was off by himself, tweaking his Harley.  Josie looked down at her algebra 2 textbook and blushed.  "It's kinda embarrassing."

            "Come on, Josie.  Our nicknames are obvious," prodded Scott.  "Yours isn't.  We're easily confused.  Well," he amended, "Except Hank."

            Josie sighed.  "Okay, okay.  Well, I told you my dad kicked me out when he saw me using my powers to 'illustrate' a story for my little brother, right?"  The others nodded.  "After that, I didn't want to stay in Houston anymore.  I went to Austin for a week or so, and then decided that I wanted to visit this 'Savage Land' place that someone told me about.  So I headed towards the east coast.  I made it as far as Kerrville."  She looked down at her hands, her face as red as the streaks in her hair.  "When I was fourteen, I started smoking.  Not too much, I'd just bum a smoke whenever I felt stressed.  I was feeling pretty bad, and I finished my last pack.  So in Kerrville, I tried to run off with a pack of Kools."  She gave them a rueful smile.  "They caught me pretty quick.  I tried to throw them off with a fake image, but it didn't work.  So I tried to stop a police officer with that 'solid air' thing I showed y'all… needless to say, I got caught, they let someone or other know I was a mutant, and I got shipped off to the lab before my parents were even called.  Jace made fun of me for the first week or so, calling me 'Smoke'."

            She gave a half grin.  "It could have been worse, I guess.  Could you imagine my nickname as 'Crackhead'?"

            "Crack_whore, maybe, but not Crackh—ow!"  Bobby stopped in midsentance and jumped out of his seat.  "Jeez, I was kidding!"_

            "I don't know, Bobby, that _was pretty harsh.  I say we let Josie smack him again."  Ororo nodded towards Bobby, who was now rubbing the back of his head.  "Go ahead, kid."_

            "Come on, I was just kidding!"  He backed off a bit as Josie brandished her textbook mock-threateningly.  "Hey Hank, help me out here!"

            "I'm staying out of this.  You're on your own."

            "Scott?  Pete?  Aw, you're all against me—Argh!"

            Scott, Peter, Ororo, and Hank went back to work, ignoring the short girl chasing after the not-so-short boy and walloping him with an algebra 2 textbook.  Logan looked up from his Harley and grinned.  _Kids, he thought, rubbing the bridge of his nose absently and streaking it with grime._


	6. Trapped in this memory

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I respect whoever's reading this enough to give you a fair warning here.  I suck at writing combat scenes.  If you're unhappy with the lack of them during a chapter where they're supposed to be training, rest assured that you would like the horrible disaster that I attempted to write even less.

Chapter 6

            "Let me get this straight.  You people'll be blowing things up and ripping them apart with your powers.  I'm supposed to do what, exactly?"

            "You've been working on fine-tuning your control over light and air.  I'm sure you'll think of something."  Ororo pulled her long hair into a ponytail, then turned to look at Josie.  "It was your choice to stay with us, and you need combat training."

            Josie sputtered for a moment, then glared.  "Whose bright idea were these stupid costumes, anyway?"

            "Xavier's.  I didn't like them either when I first joined the team, but they're actually very functional."

            "Yeah, well, you don't have a belly."

            "It's not that bad," said Hank, who was just passing by.  "Let's face it, you look a lot better in that uniform than I look in mine."

            "No, the black Kevlar brings out your lovely eyes.  And blue and black go well together."  Josie fidgeted uncomfortably.  "I changed my mind.  I quit."

            "Too late.  Come on, Xavier doesn't like to wait, and Scott's even worse."  Ororo started walking in the direction of the Danger Room.  "And don't worry about the uniform, it's baby fat."

            "I'm freakin' fifteen years old," grumbled Josie, reluctantly trailing behind Ororo and Hank.  "It's called blubber at this point."  They joined the rest of the group, who were milling around and waiting for them.

            "Hey, Josie.  Nice uniform—hey!  It was a compliment!"  Bobby held one hand up, the other rubbing at the back of his head. 

            Josie, who was standing across the room, grinned.  _At least I got the "invisible wall" thingy down.  Then she yelped in surprise.  Bobby had frozen one of her feet to the ground._

            "Knock it off, you two.  Save it for the exercise."

            Josie glared and worked on freeing her foot.  "A little help here, please."

            After the Danger Room exercise, in which Josie did better than she thought she would, Jean reported straight to the infirmary.  Bianca was sitting propped up on some pillows.  She was silent and staring blankly at the TV they had set up, but she wasn't sedated.  Her silver eyes never left the screen when Jean walked in and sat down.

            "How you doing today, Bianca?" asked Jean.  Bianca didn't answer.  "Are you hungry?"  Still no answer.  "Do you want me to change the channel?"  Silence.

            Sighing, Jean lightly probed the surface thoughts of Bianca's mind.  There was a giant numb spot where her emotions should have been.  A flash of annoyance drifted to the surface.

            Jean withdrew quickly.  "Bianca, I can't help you if you don't let me."

            Bianca turned and glared at Jean.  "I never asked you to help me," she said.  Her voice was low and raspy from lack of use.

            "We weren't gonna leave you to die.  Professor Xavier, the rest of the team… we want to help you to get your life back."

            "What life?" Bianca asked bitterly.  "They kidnapped me and killed my family.    What kind of a life have I got left?"

            "The Professor has a lot of influence.  He could get you back in college, or you could stay on the team if you want."

            "If you care so much about what I _want, you'd have let me die when I __wanted to."_

            Jean didn't have much of an answer to that.


	7. Thoughtless

Chapter 7

            Josie lay her bed, staring at the ceiling morosely.  The other X-men were out on a mission, neutralizing a mutant terrorist cell in Florida.  Xavier had asked her to stay behind until she got better control of her powers.  "You've been improving, but you'd be a liability until you get more training," was Xavier's reasoning.

            _And they don't want me freezing up on them.  Bobby had told her yesterday how he'd been allowed to go on his first mission with less experience than she had.  "Of course, it was kinda easy.  Y'know, just freeze anything that looks mean and moves."  Of course, Bobby hadn't been in a laboratory getting messed with and generally scarred for life.  __Well, she amended, __not recently._

            If that was the case, then, why wasn't she out with them?  Maybe they thought that the stupid drug that she had been given would act up and short out her powers.  She shook her head.  _Nah.__  All those tests that Hank's been running show that the stuff that's left can't do anything, so that one's out the window._

            Josie sighed.  She sat up and turned up the volume of her computer, a nice little gift from Xavier.  "_They say freak when you're singled out/ And the red, it filters through"  She frowned and switched Net radio stations.  "__You take your turns lashing out at me/ I'll have you crying when you're bleeding at the foot of me"  She switched stations again.  "__It all keeps adding up/ I think I'm cracking up"  "Dammit!"_

            She got up from her bed and stomped out of her room and down the hall.  _I need ice cream.  In large portions.  Now._

            Josie wandered down the stairs and towards the kitchen, still pondering why she was left behind and wondering if she was looking too much into the situation.  She saw a figure in a wheelchair in front of the TV in the living room.  _Wow, Professor X grew hair!  Long black hair… wait…_

            Bianca stared blankly at the screen.  Both her legs were in plaster casts, along with one arm, which rested in a sling.  The scattered bald patches in her hair, from where the researchers had attatched various electrodes, had begun to grow out.  Even though she was just sitting there, Josie felt a cold chill settle in the pit of her stomach.  Suddenly she wasn't all that hungry anymore.  She nearly panicked as, for a handful of seconds, she was back in the lab.  Scared they would make her like the insane woman four cells down.

            "Why aren't you out with _them?" came a voice.  Josie realized that Bianca was speaking to her._

            "Oh, um, they went to, uh, t-take out some terrorists.  The Professor said th-that he wants me to be able to control my, uh, powers better."

            "What's wrong?" Bianca asked, somewhat mockingly.  She turned around to face Josie, who was now trembling a bit.  "Do I scare you?  Poor little girl scared of the crazy mutie monster.  Look at me," she said, bitterly.  "I can't even move this goddamn wheelchair on my own.  I wasn't a monster until they got their hands on me."

            "No, I don't think—"

            Bianca gave a short, harsh laugh.  "No, you don't.  You don't think at all.  You want to fight your own kind, just because these deluded bastards plucked you out of a cell."

            "No, I—"

            "What kind of terrorist did the Dream Team go to destroy?  Humans who torture innocents, or mutants?"

            Josie worked her jaw a few times.  "Look, I don't—"

            "_Tell me.  Who are they out there killing?"_

            Josie hung her head and mumbled something.

            "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that," said Bianca sarcastically.

            Josie raised her head.  "I _said, mutants."_

            Bianca scowled.  "And you want to be out there fighting with them."

            "Those terrorists killed—"

            "And you rationalize it so well.  You're a good little Nazi, aren't you?"

            Josie sniffled.  "Just because a few normal people are bad doesn't mean all of them are."

            "Get out of my sight.  _Traitor."_

            Josie ran back up the stairs, sobbing.


End file.
